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Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros. during the "Golden Age of American animation" (and later for Hanna-Barbera television productions) as the voice of many well-known characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, and Captain Hook, from the 1930s up until his death in 1989. Roles File:PorkyPig.jpg|Porky Pig File:DaffyDuck.jpg|Daffy Duck File:BugsBunny.jpg|Bugs Bunny File:No_Screenshot.png|Cecil Turtle File:No_Screenshot.png|Tweety File:No_Screenshot.png|Snafu File:No_Screenshot.png|Pepé Le Pew File:Sylvester12.jpg|Sylvester File:No_Screenshot.png|Foghorn Leghorn File:No_Screenshot.png|Barnyard Dawg File:No_Screenshot.png|Henery Hawk File:No_Screenshot.png|Charlie Dog File:No_Screenshot.png|Mac File:Marvin.jpg|Marvin the Martian File:No_Screenshot.png|Sylvester Jr. File:No_Screenshot.png|Beaky Buzzard (1950) File:No_Screenshot.png|Curt Martin File:ElmerFudd.jpg|Elmer Fudd ("The Scarlet Pumpernickel", one line in "What's Opera, Doc?", and permanently from 1960-1989) File:No_Screenshot.png|Marc Antony File:No_Screenshot.png|Bertie File:No_Screenshot.png|Road Runner File:No_Screenshot.png|Speedy Gonzales File:TasmanianDevil.jpg|Tasmanian Devil Homages and tributes * A well-known lithograph was made in his honor. It shows Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Pepé Le Pew, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, and Speedy Gonzales with their heads bowed in reverence, standing around a lone microphone with a spotlight shining on it. The simple inscription on the print reads: "Speechless." According to Warner Bros., it is the highest selling piece of animation art ever produced. The picture was also made into an animated picture, with sound and changing scenes, and sold in the now-defunct Warner Brothers chain of retail stores. * In the Porky Pig short "Curtain Razor", Mel Blanc appears as a turtle doing only 999 voices out of a claimed one thousand (he actually does only about 7 distinct voices here, which were edited into a rapid-fire montage of short sound bites, thus giving the impression of more voices). The clip was shown by Turner Network Television out of context as a tribute when Blanc died. * In the 1944 Warner's cartoon "Russian Rhapsody" (directed by Bob Clampett), Blanc appears as one of the gremlins (the one sawing around Henry Binder's hair) who are sabotaging Adolf Hitler's plane. The other gremlins are other members of the Warners' staff, including Binder, Leon Schlesinger, and Friz Freleng. * In the Histeria! episode "General Sherman's Campsite", during the sketch about the Transcontinental Railroad, Loud Kiddington acts as a conductor and does the "Cucamonga" bit. * In the episode "HAM Radio", a voice actor of many voices is named Mel White, a homage to Mel Blanc. In French, blanc, the way the famous voice actor preferred to spell his surname, means white. * In the The Office episode "Take Your Daughter to Work Day," boss Michael Scott acts out Blanc's "Cucamonga" bit, even including a pause. See also * Noel Blanc * Actors who have portrayed Blanc's Looney Tunes characters since his death: ** Nathan Lane (Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester, Tweety, Marvin, Road Runner) ** Dee Bradley Baker (Daffy) ** Bob Bergen ** Jeff Bergman (Bugs, Daffy) ** Greg Burson (Bugs, Daffy) ** Jim Cummings (Taz) ** Bill Farmer (Foghorn) ** Maurice LaMarche ** Bruce Lanoil ** Billy West (Bugs, Taz, Elmer) Category:Voice actors